max diyer
Well-Known Member
Back in 1957, my Dad got a Lionel train set. There was no track or transformer, so he bought a Marx
transformer, 3-rail track, 4 turnouts with 2 switch panels and a Lionel uncoupler with momentary switch.
He took a 4x8 and covered it with fake grass that came in a 3' wide roll. It looked just like green, 80-grit
sandpaper, then he laid the track.
The track plan was similar to this:
Of course, I loved it and couldn't wait all year long, for it to be set-up. I ran that Lionel every chance I could
and did so until the transformer would get hot and had to shut it off.
In the evenings, I would run it until the family would sit down to watch TV. The old Lionel would
interfere with those old tube-type TV's and cause static lines and audio noise. Dad would tell me to shut it off.
I remember to this day, the smell that Lionel made.
The 4x8 took up about 25% of our living room, so it was tucked into a corner. Our Christmas Tree was
placed on the rear corner of the layout and occasionally the metallic foil tinsel would fall from the tree and
short out the transformer. So I had to carefully crawl across the layout to retrieve the tinsel.
When I was a teenager, Dad gave me the layout. A year after graduating high school, I moved out of the house,
dismantled the layout and packed it into boxes. I didn't stay in one place too long and to make moving easier, I
decided to sell the Lionel to a guy I worked with and never saw it again.
Looking back, I wish that I still had that old Lionel.
Here's photos I found online of the same model loco, cars and track accessories.
transformer, 3-rail track, 4 turnouts with 2 switch panels and a Lionel uncoupler with momentary switch.
He took a 4x8 and covered it with fake grass that came in a 3' wide roll. It looked just like green, 80-grit
sandpaper, then he laid the track.
The track plan was similar to this:
Of course, I loved it and couldn't wait all year long, for it to be set-up. I ran that Lionel every chance I could
and did so until the transformer would get hot and had to shut it off.
In the evenings, I would run it until the family would sit down to watch TV. The old Lionel would
interfere with those old tube-type TV's and cause static lines and audio noise. Dad would tell me to shut it off.
I remember to this day, the smell that Lionel made.
The 4x8 took up about 25% of our living room, so it was tucked into a corner. Our Christmas Tree was
placed on the rear corner of the layout and occasionally the metallic foil tinsel would fall from the tree and
short out the transformer. So I had to carefully crawl across the layout to retrieve the tinsel.
When I was a teenager, Dad gave me the layout. A year after graduating high school, I moved out of the house,
dismantled the layout and packed it into boxes. I didn't stay in one place too long and to make moving easier, I
decided to sell the Lionel to a guy I worked with and never saw it again.
Looking back, I wish that I still had that old Lionel.
Here's photos I found online of the same model loco, cars and track accessories.
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